#some of this might not make sense bc it was 4am and i was delirious

[luzsadventures]

coming straight from my three page long notes app essay I wrote at 4am after seeing the barbie movie, some thoughts on why barbie is definitely aroace, and why that means the world to me tbh:

BARBIE IS AROACE. TELL ME IM WRONG.

barbie not wanting to be with ken is so important. she never has to explain herself. she’s just not interested. and that’s okay. she’s never shamed or ostracized because she’s not interested in ken. it's not played for jokes. there’s never even a moment of “well, maybe barbie will have a realization that ken's been there all along and they'll end up together”. nope, there’s never any expectation. and it’s not even in a girlboss feminism, “she doesn’t need a man” kind of way. she just doesn’t want that, and the movie respects that. the movie respects what she wants, which is something we don't see much when it comes to aroace rep (or like most rep when it comes to women tbh).

barbie also turns down ken in a way that makes it clear that she's just not interested. there's no hesitation or sugar coating to it. we see this in the "girls night" scene in front of the dreamhouse, when barbie says simply, she doesn't want ken there. even later on when she turns him down in ways that are a little nicer, she's still very firm in her decision. time and time again we see barbie knowing what she wants and asserting it. we live in a world where when turning down men women always feel the need to be nice about it and "let them down easy" either out of being polite or sometimes as a safety precaution. regardless, to see barbie be able to be firm in her decisions is so empowering.

I love how this subverts expectations, bc we know ken is (supposed to be) barbie’s boyfriend. she’s everything and he’s just ken (although we can get into the nuances of that statement some other time). that is the role ken has always played. so to have that subverted, to make it clear to begin with that barbie is not really all that into ken is such a nice change.

this is also SO important because barbie is a beacon of “stereotypical” femininity, and has also been historically sexualized. so the fact that the movie lets her be feminine and girly but she can still not be interested in ken is amazing. she is still allowed to be herself, and her femininity is neither tied to, nor does it detract from her want to not be with ken. the movie said girls can be feminine without being tied to male attention !! girls can be feminine just bc its fun !!

I can talk about this for hours it’s so genuinely healing for me. I doubt many others picked up on it, hell idk that this all was intentional, but I loved it <3

#some of this might not make sense bc it was 4am and i was delirious #but i stand by my statement #i'm also open to the interpretation that barbie is an ace lesbian #that also sounds about right #she's definitely some flavor of queer #barbie #barbie spoilers #aroace barbie real #aroace #aromantic #asexual #aroace rep #aroace representation #barbie 2023 #the barbie movie #barbie movie #greta gerwig #margot robbie